A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Silence descended on the ruins of Muonio after Katya announced her peaceful intention.

Erik kept his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he looked at the powerful woman in front of him. He knew she had no reason to lie about this, and was thus inclined to believe her. Still, he didn't lower his guard and stayed in a fight-ready stance, much the same as Emily and Astrid.

As if they had agreed upon it beforehand, Alice and Emma were protected in the middle of a triangle formed by the three second-rankers in their group.

In the meantime, Erik was conversing with Elora in his soul. "Any idea how she found us? And why your omnisense didn't pick her up?"

"No idea on the first part," Elora responded in a thoughtful tone as she chewed her metaphysical hair. "I've hidden all our tracks as I always do, and I checked Alice's body for any tracking methods."

"But your second question is actually easily explained," she continued. "When proficient and powerful enough, an omnisense user can hide their own presence from others with omnisense by covering their own body with it. Most who can do this simply keep it active constantly out of precaution.

It won't actually protect you against the omnisense of someone more powerful than you, but Katya and I are both third-rankers."

Erik nodded inwardly to indicate that he understood, and was just about to ask Katya how she found them, when she asked a question instead.

Katya took a good look at the people in his group and raised an eyebrow, "By the way, were's that Elora woman? I was hoping to see her again. We had quite an… interesting conversation last time we spoke. The commander of Sweden's forces mentioned reported Elora was with you, but I don't see her. Don't tell me he mistook that vampire for her?"

Erik snorted and waved his hand dismissively, "Never mind about Elora." He wasn't about to say any more than absolutely necessary here. Continuing to look at her cautiously, he continued, "Since you say you come in peace, why don't you tell us how you found us first?"

"Simple," she shrugged, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I followed you from the Karolinska Institute. I arrived there just in time to see you leave," she chuckled casually, before continuing.

"But I wanted to speak to you in private, and I don't care about some second-rate genetics project. I couldn't talk to you before arriving here, as I didn't want the Swedish Council forces to find us, and when we did arrive here, I figured you'd be more amenable to my proposal after a good nights rest. So how about we get to the reason I'm here?" she finished with with a confident grin.

Her words made sense, as it would have been child's play for a third-rank of her power to follow them from a distance without being noticed. Still, it didn't answer all his questions. "Not just yet. Why where you in Stockholm to witness what happened in the first place?"

"You sure are a curious one, aren't you?" Katya sighed, but then explained anyway, as she shrugged casually. "Neither me nor any other Councilor was able to drop their duties for an unconfirmed sighting of you and your group, but after your little scuffle in Frostvik, your identities were pretty much confirmed by the commander of the Council forces that fought there."

"Still," she continued. "The Council had no idea where you would go next, and we couldn't afford to go on a manhunt in uncontrolled territory. Thus, your presence there was noted, but was otherwise going ignored."

Then her lips curled up into a proud smirk. "Yet, as commander of the shadow sentinels, I have my eyes and ears everywhere. One of my subordinates with the shadow affinity secretly stayed behind in Frostvik to see how the whole thing would end.

She is just a human and was thus unable to even try and follow you, but… well, suffice it to say, I thought that wereverine's unexpected sacrifice was very interesting, so I did a little digging on what his story was."

"I found out about Alice, figured that perhaps some deal had been made, and I'm sure you can figure out the rest," she finished with an arrogant chuckle.

"I guess I was a little to preoccupied to notice anyone hiding there…" Elora mumbled with a sigh. "I didn't think the Council would find out about Björn's sacrifice, otherwise I would have accounted for the possibility they might figure out our next destination." She fell silent for a moment before continuing with an annoyed snort, "And I clearly underestimated this woman's intelligence."

"Don't blame yourself, little Ember." Erik spoke in a comforting tone. "Things happened fast back then, and with your wounds at the end…"

"I know, I know," Elora sighed again. "But it still stings."

"Anyway, was that the last of your questions?" Katya asked, as a little discomfort and impatience slipped into her voice. "I came to Sweden under the pretense of having some business with the shadow sentinel chapter in Rikuna, but I can't stay away much longer."

"Fine," Erik nodded, not really wanting Katya to stay here much longer anyway. "What's this deal you spoke off?"

A solemn look appeared on Katya's face, replacing her usual air of casual confidence. "I need you to repeat what you did for Alice."

"You… want me to rescue someone?" Erik asked, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"That's right," Katya nodded. "Someone dear to me is being held captive and used to keep me under control by the leader of the shapeshifter faction—Aria Lefay. I know where they are being kept, but neither me, nor any of my people can get close without alerting Aria." She spoke the name Aria with such anger that it actually surprised Erik a little.

So far, Katya had seemed like a woman who would go unfazed by most things.

A bloodthirsty fighting intent started radiating from Katya and an eager smile graced her lips. "I want to crush Aria and turn her into a handbag, but I can't do it while she has this leverage over me. So you need to remove it for me. I couldn't ask this back in London as there were too many other people around, but it's different now."

"I had actually intended to ask you this later over the phone, and trade Elora for my brother, but then… well, you know."

Erik frowned in thought for a moment as he also discussed this with Elora. Finally, he looked Katya in her eyes. "Fine, I can see why you want me for this, but what do I get in return? You already said you wouldn't be kidnapping any of my companions, so I can only imagine you intend for this to be a quid-pro-quo."